POST SCRIPT

Whilst on a
visit to Spain I was shown a scratch-built adaptation of sts, which struck me because
of its remarkable similarity to the TT cars produced some years later by Exin.
In 1988 a club near Barcelona, Slot San Cugat, held a "Paris Slot
Dakar" event. The circuit was built with ordinary 1/32 Scalextric track
but included some inclines, bumps, etc. Eduardo Casas-Alvero, a slot car
enthusiast and accomplished modeller built three cars for him to race with his
two sons. The cars were based on Tamiya buggy kits but used the RX4 motor to
drive all 4 wheels. Eduardo's trick was to fit an sts contact arm with a
standard Scalextric guide to the chassis of the buggies. The close similarities
in both appearance and operation between Eduardo’s buggies and those produced
in 1991 for the TT range are clear.

The use of the
sts contact arm and standard Scalextric guide was ideally suited to this event.
The contact arm meant the buggy could take off over a bump, which ordinary slot
cars would have to slow down for. The standard Scalextric guide controlled the
car around corners better than the sts guide would have done because it only
pivots about its vertical axis.

Eduardo's sons
came first and second scoring 24.001 and 23,987 points respectively. The third
placed driver was some distance behind with 22,536 points. In 1989 the sons'
positions were reversed until the front gearbox of the leading car was jammed
by debris. This meant they could only finish first and fourth. That event was
never run again but the buggies had one last outing in the "Open Baja
500" in 1990, a shorter race on a similar type of circuit. This time
Eduardo won beating his younger son into second place. Three victories out of
three races and high place positions was an impressive record and showed what
could be achieved by combining this type of guide assembly with faster 1/32 scale
cars.

After sts was
discontinued Exin introduced the TT range in 1991. TT cars go much faster than
sts cars and the Spanish quickly spotted the range's potential for an
interesting form of slot racing. A number of clubs organised TT events and such
races remain popular in Spain today, nearly 10 years after the line was
discontinued.